Back 4 Blood is coming this October

Turtle Rock's Left 4 Dead successor Back 4 Blood gave us a brief peek at its monsters vs survivors PVP offering, Swarm mode.

Harking back to the good old days of L4D Versus, Swarm made a brief appearance in a new trailer during the Xbox & Bethesda Game showcase. While four players will be running and gunning as usual, they'll be facing off against a rival team of Back 4 Blood's "Ridden".

These players will take on various forms of special infected variants, including a brainy-boy who can leap and pin survivors, a one-armed brute who can lift them skywards, a barfing lad, and more. Again, very reminiscent of L4D's undead rogue's gallery, but I'm excited to see how Turtle Rock finds ways for these new monsters to mix things up. 

The trailer also teases a bit more of B4B's setting, teasing some kind of absolutely monstrous undead kaiju. Hate to be the poor bugger who turned into that after a spot of the zombie flu.

Following a few delays, Turtle Rock has also settled on a firm release date. Back 4 Blood will hit PC on October 12, and will be a part of Xbox Game Pass on launch.

Natalie Clayton
Features Producer

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.